Downfall
by ninzzminigoth
Summary: The Crucible did not fulfil its purpose, and Shepard is alive, unbeknownst to most. POV's of different characters at various points in time first mention of each char is at the same point in time . Rated M for violence and language.
1. Shepard

The Reapers were still firing at the fleets. Laying on her side, her face pressed into the cold floor of some hard, foreign material, she could see the lasers and bullets fly in the vacuum of space. No noise out there. No screams to be heard from them, by anyone. Her own allies, new and old. She knew they were dying out there. She also knew that the people on Earth were being massacred by the hundreds of millions. The console still stood before her, and she was still alive. Barely.

Anderson lay in the room adjacent, dead.

A crackle in her earpiece broke the painful silence, and she recoiled, ungrateful towards whatever bastard was calling her and interrupting her what-should-have-been in peace death.

"Shepard!"

The voice echoed through her head. She had to listen to the words, respond to them, she knew it was her name.

"Shepard! What happened up there?"

"I...oh.." The effort was too much. "I... Did... Did it work?"

Silence.

"...Hackett?" A sigh crackled through the line.

"We don't think so."

"How.. not work? We-we... The whole galaxy- did it-"

"It was a necessary risk. It was our only chance."

_Only chance._ Those words instilled absolute hopelessness in her heart. Another painful silence, neither of them were sure what to say.

"Do you know what happened to Anderson?"

"Sorry. Dead," she stated, her words slurred and clipped.

"Damn it."

A sudden need rose within Shepard to state her thoughts, however difficult it might have been to articulate them.

"Hackett, we risked so much. Lost so much-this war and-" She paused. "Maybe Sovereign was right. Maybe the cycle is... Oh, damn it. What are we fighting for? Maybe this is- was meant to happen..."

The line crackled again. A handful of seconds passed before he spoke.

"It wouldn't be the first time you were right, Shepard."


	2. Hackett

**Hackett**

Hackett watched nervously through the windows in the cockpit of the _Normandy _as a Reaper destroyer closed in on their location, blasting everything in its path. He had to call Shepard. Surely she had the Crucible working by now? Surely it would work? He pressed the button on his earpiece and spoke to the other end. The remaining crewmembers and few Alliance dignitaries were there, too. Waiting.

"Shepard!" There was no response. No noise.

"Shepard!" he called again, "What happened up there?"

A small grunt issued from her side.

"I... oh..." She seemed to be in pain. A great deal of it. Damn it, Shepard was their only hope! She couldn't have failed! "I... Did... Did it work?"

Shit.

That confirmed that it didn't work. Hackett thought it would be too much to give her an outright 'no'.

"We don't think so." Another series of grunts issued from her side, as if she were trying to sit up.

"How... not work? We- we- the whole galaxy- did it-" She wasn't making any sense. She must be in a terrible state.

"It was a necessary risk. It was our only chance."

There was an awkward silence.

"Do you know what happened to Anderson?" he asked. It was all he could think to ask.

"Sorry. Dead." Her words were short. Pained.

"Damn it," he hissed, mainly to himself.

What both of them knew by now from deduction, Hackett did not need to reaffirm. Shepard, it seemed, did.

"Hackett, we risked so much. Lost so much-this war and-" There was a short quiet. "Maybe Sovereign was right. Maybe the cycle is... Oh, damn it. What are we fighting for? Maybe this is- was meant to happen..."

Hackett breathed in sharply and let it out slowly.

"It wouldn't be the first time you were right, Shepard." He clicked the line off and looked at all Shepard's remaining crewmates, who were waiting.

"She's alive," he said. That much was obvious from the continued conversation. "But the Crucible failed to activate."

"So... we're going to die?" one of the crew said sadly.

"It would seem so," Hackett replied. He knew damn well there was no 'seeming' about it.


	3. Liara & Garrus

**A/N: warning, depressing material ahead!**

"Garrus! What's happening?" Liara cried frantically, "They're not stopping!" She ran from her current position to another that was substantially, though only comparatively, safer. The destroyers were closing in, Shepard had long since disappeared into the beam, and more Reapers were landing. The two of them were struggling to fight off the seemingly endless stream of Reaper ground forces.

"I don't know!" he yelled over the screaming sirens of the destroyers, "Something should have happened by now!" He put a bullet into the head of a wailing banshee, knocking her dead instantaneously. Those bitches were so much easier – but riskier- to kill at point blank.

"Goddess, what are we going to do? We can't stay here forever!" Liara was trying in vain to stop the husks from advancing on her position, but they just kept coming.

"I don't think we can-"

Just then, a laser from the nearest destroyer hit the building next to them, obliterating it from the inside, knocking Liara out of Garrus's sight.

"Shit!" he exclaimed. You were never to let a squadmate – or friend – out of sight, and that was what just happened. He scrambled over the piles of debris, fighting off the husks, searching for her.

"Liara! Where are you?"

"Here.." the voice was weak.

She was close, or he wouldn't have heard it. He looked down to see her right at his feet, gasping, trapped under a fallen piece of concrete. Her left hand was free and she reached it out to him, hand shaking. He knelt beside her and took it, the four fingers and one thumb strange around his three, and the whole world seemed to stop around the two of them. His current environment dimmed and all he could feel and hear was _Liara. _She was melding with him, he realised.

_I'm sorry, Garrus. _

_What for?_

_We're all going to die, you know that. Don't you?_

_You can't say-_

_Garrus. _Her thought was sharp and scolding, almost motherly. _I- I can't stand to see her homeworld fall. Not after Thessia. Not after Palaven-_

_Palaven. _The thought rang in both their minds simultaneously.

_There is nothing we can do, Liara. It's too late. _

_I know, Garrus. Tell her... Tell her..._

The bond broke. Garrus knew she was dead as reality came back to him and the screams of the Destroyers rattled his bones. He did not let go of her hand, nor did he attempt to keep the husks off his position. He looked up to the small patch of clear night sky with a sorrowful expression to see the galaxy's fleets burning, and made no move to dodge one of the Destroyer's lasers that was headed straight for him.

**A/N: Oh, boy that wasn't supposed to be depressing, but it was. Sorry if Garrus or Liara are special to you – I love them both – but the point of this fanfic is utter hopelessness and the failure of the Crucible. I did think that most of the squadmates you had on the ground would die in the game anyways, so here you go. Expect moar.**


	4. EDI & Joker

**EDI and Joker**

"EDI!"

"Yes, Jeff?" EDI responded coolly.

"We need to get off the ground!"

"That would compromise our relative safety, Jeff. I would suggest holding our current position."

"But we can't even shoot them from here!"

"What would you prefer, Jeff? Leave ground and risk getting shot, or stay in relative safety here?"

It was a tough decision. Joker desperately wanted to just shoot the bastards, but EDI – one of the most advanced defence AI's in the galaxy, said it was unsafe.

"Okay," Joker said, raising his hands in defiance, "I'm sorry, EDI, but I don't want to sit here and watch while the Alliance is blown to pieces, nor my friends!" He reached for the switches and started flipping them, engaging the Tantalus and powering up the engines. The _Normandy_ began to hum quietly, before its apparent weight became noticeably less and lifted ever so slightly from the ground.

"Jeff, this course of action is extremely dangerous. I do not recommend it, even with the Tantalus Drive Core engaged," EDI warned as the ship's engines turned up to full power, ready for take-off.

"I don't care, EDI. I won't watch my friends die down there!" Joker shouted, throwing items and commands across the aerogel display in frantic swipes.

A few moments passed as the _Normandy_ took to the blackened, laser-crossed sky.

"I'm the best damned helmsman in the Alliance fleet, and today is the day I intend to show those fucking Reapers why!"

"Very well, Mr. Moreau. I will not question your judgement again."

The _Normandy _was then well up into the skies above London, and the view was as astonishing as it was horrifying. Reapers, both Sovereign-class and Destroyer class, dotted the vast city, living up to their names. The noise they made was deafening, even as high up as the _Normandy_ was. Above, the Reaper defences were blowing the galaxy forces to hell – the ships could easily be seen as they exploded.

"It is saddening even for me, Jeff, to see this – as far as I understand the emotion." EDI paused, appearing to consider her next words. "I am sorry."

Joker lowered his head momentarily, and shook it.

"Thanks, EDI. Let's hope we get through this alive, right?" When EDI did not reply, Joker turned to her to see why not. Her body looked about as worried as a robot could get.

"Jeff! Shots incoming!"

Joker turned the external camera to see the red lights heading for them and attempted to manoeuvre the _Normandy _out of their way.


	5. Tali'Zorah vas Normandy

**Tali'Zorah vas Normandy**

There were people of all races, all around her, hiding. They were in exile, now. All were hungry, but the Turians and Quarians among them were struggling even more, as there was very little food for them available – it had been used up. Tali was there, among others, to guard them from any husks that happened to find their way in.

They were all in the Underground system, huddled closely together. Tali had heard old stories of these systems, people hid in them during the Second Terran War to avoid being killed by bombs. It certainly seemed to be a safe haven, as people had been hiding in them since the Reapers first arrived. It reminded Tali very much of the Migrant Fleet, cramped and yet lonely, depite all the people.

The Second Terran War, along with most of the prominent human wars, were well known throughout the galaxy, mainly by word of mouth, as many records had been destroyed in the 200 odd years since then, and people from Earth whose long dead relatives had been involved had told what they knew.

Now it seemed another great war was underway, and all were resorting to the oldest and most reliable form of safety they knew – underground.

Tali weaved slowly through the huddles, brandishing her gun in readiness. All of a sudden, somewhere, a young woman with an ethereal voice sang, as if to lift the group's spirits.

"_Just wait, though wide she may roam … always, a hero comes home," _

A few heads lifted to look in the direction of the beautiful voice.

"_She goes where no one has gone, but always, a hero comes home."_

Tali listened closely. Her voice was haunting, and reminded her more still of Rannoch.

"_She knows of places unknown... always, a hero comes home." _

Now this girl had everyone's attention. The human sang with great sadness, and Tali understood that all too well. Everyone knew what she was singing, thanks to their translation implants – and it got through to them emotionally.

"_She goes where no-one has gone … but always … a hero comes home." _

At the last word, Tali realised who the human was singing about, lowered her weapon, and hoped to her ancestors that she was still alive.

_Keelah, Shepard. Come back. Please._

**A/N: Yes, the song is from the 2007 Beowulf film. I thought it was highly appropriate.**


End file.
